1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns an apparatus for acquisition and administration of medical image data, of the type having one or more medical image acquisition modalities for image data acquisition that are operated by associated computers, a server with an image data storage, and at least one workstation computer with an image reproduction device for representation and processing of acquired and/or stored image data; wherein the server and the workstation computer are connected with one another and with the image acquisition modality or image acquisition modalities via a data connection.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In such apparatuses for acquisition and administration of medical image data, conventionally only a single server is provided with which a number of workstation computers and a number of modalities are normally connected. All information required for image acquisition and administration as well as the actual generated images of the examined patients is stored in the storage unit of the single server. It is therefore very important that the apparatus is operational at all times and is fast enough to be able to quickly process requests on the part of a user of the apparatus and, if applicable, to be able to react quickly to user activities.
Such apparatuses for the image data acquisition and administration, however, are individually configured for almost all customers, for example dependent on the number of hospitals, the type and capacity of the existing image acquisition modalities as well as the relevant doctors. Due to the individual configurations of the apparatuses for image data acquisition and administration, a problem is that these are often too powerful for their particular application, such that unnecessarily high costs arise for the customer. Moreover, an insufficient adaptation to the actual customer requirements can lead to bottlenecks, for example due to insufficient available bandwidth in the network.
The operation of a contemporary apparatus for acquisition and administration of medical image data additionally requires an administrator with special experience, since the service capability of the entire system directly depends on the ability of the administrator to read important data from the system and to correctly interpret them. For example, the administrator must read log files for the correct interpretation of which a great deal of experience is necessary. Additionally it is extremely difficult to recognize the critical components of such an apparatus and to implement targeted improvements.
A medical system architecture with an integrated RIS client of a radiology information system on the console computer of a modality is known from DE 101 54 740 A1. An RIS interface can be used for better planning, monitoring and optimization of the utilization of modalities and all involved resources such as personnel, consumables and the like. Furthermore, a “statistic module” can be used for evaluations. Data can additionally be collected into outcome analyses.